How to Keep Pie Crust From Shrinking

A shrinking crust is a common problem when baking pies.

One of the many problems associated with baking a pie is finding that your pie crust shrank during the prebaking process. This leaves you with too much filling and an unattractive pie. The solution is simple and requires just a little extra effort during the preparation and prebaking process: Many cooks swear by an easy trick of adding beans, beads, loose coins or some other weight to the pie before prebaking (or blind baking) it. This trick keeps the crust from shrinking or bubbling up in the oven.

Things You'll Need

• Unused coffee filter
• Dried beans

Instructions

1. Roll out your pie crust to the necessary size.

2. Place the pie crust in the pie pan.

3. Line the crust with a coffee filter or piece of parchment paper, and flatten it to fit the pie.

4. Fill the crust loosely with dried beans to help hold the shape. Don't press the beans into the crust.

5. Refrigerate at least one hour.

6. Remove the coffee filter.

7. Bake as directed.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't overwork the dough. Sometimes, all that pie crust needed was a little alone time.

• Don't use too much water in your crust. Pie should be flaky. Too much water pulls it tight, causing that shrinking effect.

References

• AllRecipes.com: Perfect Pie Crusts